


belated, beleaguered

by zannen



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Established Relationship, Face-Sitting, Kink Discovery, M/M, Overstimulation, Tentacle Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 09:47:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17404640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zannen/pseuds/zannen
Summary: “On second thought,” says Kyungsoo, all kinds of alarm bells going off in his head, “I don’t think I like this.”“Oh.” Baekhyun looks faintly put out. His dark, translucent tentacles all seem to droop with disappointment. “So no cuddling?”





	belated, beleaguered

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to finish this in time for Kyungsoo Day but that... didn't happen. So uh.
> 
> Anyway, a maybe unimportant worldbuilding note: Magic exists in this AU but is only possible through rituals and incantations. So casual spell casting and wand waving isn't a thing. So it takes time and energy and real physical resources, and is also (theoretically) government-regulated. Baekhyun has a permit of some kind that allows him to be a practitioner of magic. Or something.
> 
> Also, this doesn't matter at all and you absolutely weren't going to wonder about this, but Kyungsoo is a graphic designer.

There’s a knock at the door while Kyungsoo is in the middle of his weekly meal prep. He frowns in the direction of the sound, then down at the raw meat in his hands, and sighs.

“Just a minute,” he calls, stepping to the side to wash his hands.

He sanitizes as quickly as possible, still washing up to the wrists even so. Surgical cleanliness. The person at the door knocks again as he’s toweling off, but more softly this time; like an assurance that they’re still there, maybe. Or they’re being obnoxious. It could go either way.

When he gets to the door, he opens it without checking who it is first, then holds back another sigh.

“You could’ve texted me to say you were coming over,” he says reprovingly. Not because he doesn’t want to see him—it’s just a weird, inconvenient time, and Kyungsoo isn’t fond of surprises as it is.

Baekhyun, to his credit, is smiling contritely, his head slightly bowed and eyes peering up through his lashes, weight all on his heels, hands in his pockets. He says, “Sorry? Did I catch you in the middle of cooking?”

When Baekhyun’s gaze flicks down, Kyungsoo realizes he’s still wearing his apron. It’s a cutesy one a friend gave him, too, butter-yellow with little baby chicks stitched onto the chest. He pretends not to be mortified to have been caught wearing it, but is.

“You did,” he says. “Do you need something?” As soon as he says it, he winces, realizing how curt it must sound. “Sorry. I just wasn’t expecting you.” _Because you live across town_ , he doesn’t say. _Because you’ve only been here a handful of times, and I didn’t think you’d even remember where I lived. Because Sunday evening is a weird time to come over unannounced if you’re hoping for a fuck._

“No no, you’re right, I should’ve said something,” says Baekhyun. “Um. Can I come in?”

His look of nervousness has Kyungsoo equal parts curious and concerned. “Sure, of course. Do you mind talking while I finish up the food?”

Baekhyun shakes his head. “That’s fine.”

The odd thing about the situation, Kyungsoo realizes as they head to the other room, is that this is probably the first time Baekhyun’s come over for anything but sex. Usually their time together is spent in public, or at Baekhyun’s apartment, or here in the late, late night. Three months of dating, and this is Kyungsoo’s first time seeing Baekhyun on the other side of his kitchen counter. Even when he stays for breakfast, Kyungsoo just brings it to the bedroom, because it’s easier than expecting Baekhyun to be anything but an incoherent, horny mess first thing in the morning.

Now, though, it seems like sex is the furthest thing from his mind. From the way he’s staring guiltily at the countertop, Kyungsoo figures Baekhyun either needs something or cheated on him. He doubts it’s the latter. Hopes it isn’t. If it is, he’s really misjudged his boyfriend. That would be disappointing, to say the least. Worse than disappointing, but he doesn’t want to put exact words to it just now.

There’s a stretch of silence as Kyungsoo starts cutting meat. A few moments in, he prompts, “So?”

“So,” Baekhyun echoes. “I kind of… fucked up.”

Kyungsoo is prepared to be displeased.

“Or—depending on your perspective,” Baekhyun continues, “I didn’t fuck up at all and actually did something really cool?”

Kyungsoo furrows his brow at the flank steak. Still anticipating displeasure, but probably not the relationship-ending kind.

“Okay,” he says slowly.

“And, okay, before I say what happened, I just want you to know I was trying to do something for your birthday. As a surprise.”

“The more disclaimers you add, the worse this is starting to sound,” says Kyungsoo.

He stops and looks up at Baekhyun to fix him with an unimpressed stare, and finds himself met with a pitiful, beseeching pout, like Baekhyun knows full well that he’s going to be judged or punished for whatever he’s about to say, and is preemptively pleading for understanding. It’s not, at least, the look of someone who’s committed an inexcusable act of infidelity; Baekhyun isn’t stupid enough to think he could get out of that by acting cute.

He _is_ cute, though, there’s no denying that. And not in a cloying way, not the sort of forced and childish cuteness that Kyungsoo has no patience for. Just sunny and sweet and a forgivable sort of dumb. It’s why, those three months ago and change, Kyungsoo watched one of Baekhyun’s pleased smiles turn into an obnoxious laugh, felt his own face grow unexpectedly warm, and decided he had to kiss him. That’s the power of Baekhyun’s charm: No matter what kind of stupid or annoying thing he does, there’s still something endearing about it that makes Kyungsoo like him more and more.

He’s also very good with his mouth. That helps. Kyungsoo is willing to tolerate a lot from someone who eats his ass as enthusiastically as Baekhyun.

“Alright.” Baekhyun takes a deep breath. “So I tried out this spell—”

 

 

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t even know what to do with his hands. He wishes he could bury his face in them and yell in frustration and disbelief, but there’s the issue of the raw meat, which also means he can’t reach over and cradle Baekhyun’s face and ask him sincerely why he’s such an idiot. He just stares down at the cutting board blankly, at an utter loss.

“This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” he says.

“But it’s fine! The doctor said I’m okay!” Baekhyun’s made his eyes as big and sad and sorry as possible, and Kyungsoo refuses to look at them, no matter how much Baekhyun leans forward to try to get his attention.

“Being lucky doesn’t make you less stupid,” says Kyungsoo.

“True.” Baekhyun sighs, sitting back on his stool. “But it could’ve been worse, right? I kept things under control and—”

“No you didn’t,” Kyungsoo cuts in. “Accidentally summoning an extraplanar being is not ‘keeping things under control.’”

“Okay, okay, maybe not. But _after_ that part, I think I did a pretty good job.”

“Getting hexed by an extraplanar being is not—”

“‘Wow, Baekhyun, that sounds so terrifying, I’m so glad you’re safe,’” Baekhyun drawls, then scoffs. “Look, my mom’s already lectured me about it, and I didn’t even tell her about the tentacles.”

Kyungsoo’s head snaps up, eyes wide with incredulity. “The _what?_ ”

“I guess I have tentacles now kinda?” Baekhyun shrugs, looking wildly unbothered by something any normal person would be lose their shit over. “But they’re weird phantom tentacles, so it doesn’t really matter.”

“Phantom tentacles,” Kyungsoo echoes.

“Yeah, like, I kinda have to… will them into existence? They aren’t stable in this dimension, apparently.” Another shrug. “But the doctor said they shouldn’t cause me any problems, and she’s an expert in this kind of junk, so.”

“Phantom tentacles,” Kyungsoo says again. “Is this it? Do we have to break up because you got cursed by a tentacle monster during a botched conjuration?”

Baekhyun’s face falls. “Do we?”

“I don’t know! Just.” Kyungsoo closes his eyes. He takes a deep breath through his nose to steady himself, then lets it out slowly through his mouth. “I have to finish cooking. Then we can talk.”

“Do you—want me to leave, or—?”

“Just wait in the bedroom. And keep your tentacles to yourself,” he adds.

Baekhyun obediently scurries off, leaving Kyungsoo staring down at the cutting board again, jaw clenched. He clucks his tongue, then goes back to what he was doing, albeit with an air of frustration. He’s going to take his time, both to make Baekhyun wait and also give himself time to mull over what he’s going to do next.

On one hand, it was beyond stupid of Baekhyun to mess with a school of magic he isn’t trained in, because any misused spell can have disastrous consequences. It was especially reckless to do it for something so unimportant, so unnecessary as a birthday present.

On the other hand, it’s kind of sweet, if misguided. And, well, he _did_ volunteer information about the whole mishap to Kyungsoo, when he could just as easily have lied or kept it secret. That should count for something. Maybe.

But now Kyungsoo has a boyfriend with phantom tentacles, and he has no idea what to do with that.

He’s still undecided once he’s put the meat away in its marinade—the most he can do at this point, with this level of preoccupation—and washed his hands again, but there’s nothing to be done about that. He starts to make for the other room, then remembers his apron, cheeks warm as he hangs it up on its hook.

Baekhyun is lying on his back in the middle of the mattress, all sprawled out, having made himself right at home in Kyungsoo’s room. He turns his head and gives Kyungsoo a look of pure dejection, a real kicked puppy sort of face. Sulking, then, not getting comfortable. Of course.

“If you’re gonna dump me for being an idiot,” he mumbles as Kyungsoo approaches, “can I at least get a goodbye kiss or something?”

“Sit up,” says Kyungsoo.

Baekhyun does. In turn, Kyungsoo takes a seat on the bed. The kicked puppy look is still in full force as Kyungsoo cups the back of Baekhyun’s neck, disappearing only as Baekhyun’s eyes flutter shut in anticipation of a kiss.

Kyungsoo doesn’t give him one. Just says, “Why does liking you make my life so complicated?”

“I’m a lovable mess,” says Baekhyun.

“Mm.” Kyungsoo squeezes gently, rubbing his thumb over Baekhyun’s nape. “Are you okay, though? And don’t give me a bullshit answer about the doctor,” he adds.

“Fine,” says Baekhyun. “I was a little freaked out at first, but I’m fine. Had a few days to get used to it. The tentacles are kind of cool.” He opens his eyes back up, uncharacteristically sullen. “Are you really breaking up with me?”

Kyungsoo shakes his head.

Visibly sagging with relief, Baekhyun says, “Thank god. I’m kind of in love with you, you know. It would really suck to get dumped at this point.”

“Not the time,” says Kyungsoo, despite the fluttering in his stomach. “Let’s focus. Tentacles.”

“Oh. Right.” A pause. “You wanna see them?”

Does he? He has to admit, he’s a little curious about them in spite of himself. Wary, though.

“What are they like?” he asks, pulling back and removing his hand from Baekhyun’s neck to rest it instead on his knee.

Baekhyun hums. “At first they look a little like shadows. Dark and not all there? But they’re less creepy when I get them solid.”

“How many are there?”

“Four.” Baekhyun laughs. “I’m an octopus.”

Kyungsoo ignores that. “Can you control them?”

“Sure. I mean, not _well_ ,” Baekhyun amends. “My coordination isn’t great. But they move when I make them move, and I’ve got feeling in them and everything. It’s like having more arms, but without hands or bones or joints. Wiggly arms.”

It sounds weird. Kyungsoo says as much.

“It _is_ weird,” says Baekhyun, “didn’t I say that? But an interesting kind of weird. Neat. Fun.”

“And they aren’t dangerous,” says Kyungsoo, more a question than statement.

“Shouldn’t be. Unless I knock things over with them. Which I kind of did at home,” Baekhyun admits. “But that was me being ambitious and trying to multitask.”

An important thing to know about their relationship is that Baekhyun isn’t the only idiot. Kyungsoo, no matter the impression he may give off, is also incredibly stupid. So, without any additional questions or precautions or considerations, he nods and says, “Okay, show me.”

“Hold on, lemme take my clothes off first,” says Baekhyun. At Kyungsoo’s raised eyebrows, he explains, “So they don’t get ripped or anything.”

He sheds his hoodie, then his T-shirt, tossing them carelessly aside. Then he closes his eyes.

And okay, yes, those are definitely some tentacle-like appendages that have materialized.

“On second thought,” says Kyungsoo, all kinds of alarm bells going off in his head, “I don’t think I like this.”

“Oh.” Baekhyun looks faintly put out. His dark, translucent tentacles all seem to droop with disappointment. “So no cuddling?”

At that, Kyungsoo gets up and starts walking away without a word, leaving Baekhyun to scramble to his feet, yelping, and chase after him.

 

 

 

 _If I learn how to control these better, I could do so many things!!  
_ **Received 12:14 PM**

 _Like what?_ **  
Sent 12:15 PM**

 _Professional dog walker_  
_Professional wrestler_  
_Professional pizza maker_  
**Received 12:15 PM**

 _Also I feel like I’m gonna be really good at cuddling now but you won’t let me find out so :/_  
**Received 12:16 PM**

 _You’re already good enough at it. When have I ever complained?_  
**Sent 12:19 PM**

 _But we could cuddle VERTICALLY now!_  
_I could hold you up with six entire limbs!!_  
**Received 12:19 PM**

 _Alright, gonna assume that you leaving me on read means ur not a fan_  
**Received 1:06 PM**

 _My lunch break was over._  
**Sent 5:02 PM**

 _That’s never stopped you from responding before : <_  
**Received 5:06 PM**

 _I don’t want anyone to see my boyfriend talking about manhandling me with tentacles. It could give off the wrong impression._  
**Sent 5:08 PM**

 _I think it’s a legitimate thing to be concerned about._  
**Sent 5:12 PM**

 _Baekhyun?_  
**Sent 5:37 PM**

…  
**Sent 5:58 PM**

 _My intentions are innocent and pure and here you are making it sound like we’re sexting_  
_Disgusting_  
_Unless this is your way of saying you’d be into that_  
**Received 6:00 PM**

 _What_  
**Sent 6:00 PM**

 _Are you into tentacle stuff  
_ **Received 6:00 PM**

 _Is that why you’re acting weird about all of this_  
_Do my interdimensional tentacles turn you on Soo_  
_Do you wanna get tentafucked_  
**Received 6:01 PM**

 _No_  
_Don’t be gross_  
**6:01 PM**

 _I have to make dinner. I’ll talk to you later_  
**6:02 PM**

 _Wow that sure wasn’t an abrupt exit lol_  
_Not weird at all_  
_Definitely doesn’t make me think you have a tentacle kink_  
**Received 6:02 PM**

 

“I don’t,” Kyungsoo says the moment Baekhyun answers the phone, not even letting him finish saying “hello.”

Baekhyun laughs. “I know you don’t,” he says, “that’s why I’m giving you a hard time.” And that might be true, but it could also be that Baekhyun is testing the waters, seeing if Kyungsoo is offended because he _does_ feel that way or offended because he absolutely doesn’t. At this point, it’s decidedly the latter; the subject is uncomfortable and hugely off-putting.

Plus, he hates sexting in general, and doesn’t want Baekhyun to think he can start in on dirty talk about tentacles. Better to nip it in the bud.

“If you think this is gonna make me fonder of your mutated ghost limbs, you should start reevaluating,” says Kyungsoo, staring into his fridge with narrowed eyes.

“What’s it gonna take, then? You won’t let me hug you.” Cue the audible pout.

“Don’t think that’s the best starting point.” Kimchi fried rice is an option, he supposes. Might as well.

“So how should we start off?” asks Baekhyun. “You’ll have to get used to them sooner or later if we’re gonna keep dating. Getting them removed is risky.”

Kyungsoo frowns. He holds his phone between his head and shoulder as he starts grabbing things from the fridge.

“But you don’t have to make them corporeal,” he says.

“I also don’t have to let you come on my face,” Baekhyun shoots back.

Taken aback, Kyungsoo pauses.

“If you don’t like that, we don’t have to do it,” Kyungsoo mumbles, ears growing hot.

“I don’t _hate_ it, okay,” says Baekhyun. “It was just an example. About compromise. All I’m saying is that I have tentacles now, and I’d like if you didn’t fucking book it out of the room every time you see them, you know?”

“Yeah,” says Kyungsoo, realizing now that maybe he’s hurt Baekhyun’s feelings a bit with how fervently anti-tentacle he’s been. “I get it.”

“But, I dunno, if you’re not comfortable—”

“Are you busy Friday?” Kyungsoo interrupts. “Just, ah, we haven’t seen each other much recently.” He chews the inside of his cheek. He’s so rusty at all of this that sentimentality feels awkward. “And I—we can talk. Spend time together. Figure out… everything.”

“Oh,” says Baekhyun. There’s a pause. “Yeah, that’d be nice. But—do you want your present late, or should I drop it off before then?”

“You don’t have to give me anything,” says Kyungsoo. “In fact, maybe don’t. Just in case.”

Baekhyun makes an indignant noise. “I can get you a normal gift without anything going wrong! But—well. Would a sexual favor be better?”

“Um,” says Kyungsoo.

“Your birthday present can be letting you choke me with—”

“Anyway,” Kyungsoo says quickly, voice cracking. “Does Friday work?”

“Sure, yeah.”

They get the details figured out, then Kyungsoo goes back to making dinner, trying his best not to let his imagination fill in the rest of the gift Baekhyun was offering.

 

 

 

“Cake?” says Kyungsoo, regarding the thing in Baekhyun’s hands with surprise. The box has a plastic window on the top, showing off its contents. Chocolate frosting, simply and minimally decorated.

Baekhyun blinks. “Oh, do you not like cake?” He looks down. “Or is it the flavor?” Looks up at Kyungsoo again. “I thought yellow with chocolate ganache would be safe, ’cause most people like chocolate but not everyone likes it enough for a whole cake, right?” Then he laughs, sheepish. “Sorry. When you manage a bakery you kind of assume everyone likes desserts.”

“Did you make it?” Kyungsoo asks, holding his hands out. Then, “I like it, I just wasn’t expecting it.”

Baekhyun hands the cake over, saying, “Nah, this is one of Sehun’s. His are fluffier. But we can pretend it’s mine, if that makes it more special.”

“Tell Sehun I said thank you.” Kyungsoo answers Baekhyun’s huffy look with a grin. “It was very thoughtful of you to delegate to someone you thought could do it better, thank you.”

“Anyway,” says Baekhyun, “you’re still getting a birthday blowjob, so it’s no big deal if you don’t like the cake.” He shoots back his own toothy grin, unwinding the scarf from his neck to hang it on the rack by the door.

“Okay?” says Kyungsoo. “That’s. Good.”

Baekhyun cocks his head. “Birthday rimjob?”

“I was really hoping to talk about our feelings and the future of this relationship,” says Kyungsoo. “Can the logistics of where you’re putting your mouth on me wait?”

A sigh. “I guess. It’ll just have to be a surprise.”

Putting the cake away leads to Kyungsoo being pressed up against the kitchen counter, Baekhyun kissing the air out of him, insistent but not aggressive in his movements. He lets out noises of quiet satisfaction, enough to have Kyungsoo’s head buzzing. And his hands: curious and exploratory, roaming boldly but not pushing. That’s another thing Kyungsoo likes about him, that confident certainty.

“That long?” Kyungsoo murmurs without breaking the kiss, the words almost lost against Baekhyun’s mouth.

“Week and a half,” says Baekhyun. He chuckles breathily and presses his lips to just the corner of Kyungsoo’s. “Least it’s not just me.”

Kyungsoo grunts questioningly and angles his head to recapture Baekhyun’s mouth, pulling a laugh from him in their next kiss.

“Your hand,” says Baekhyun, chortling.

There’s one on Baekhyun’s hip, but the other has slid down into his back pocket. Kyungsoo can’t quite muster up any embarrassment over his keenness, even though he probably should.

“Week and a half,” he says by way of explanation.

“So is this us talking about our feelings?” Baekhyun asks. He moves back half a step, enough for Kyungsoo to see his look of glowing amusement.

“No. We should do that.” Kyungsoo hesitates. Kissing is more interesting, less tedious. And for them, kissing generally leads to fucking, which he would take over earnest conversation any day. But necessary things are rarely the most appealing option. “Should we sit somewhere, or are we doing this with you looming over me?”

“I like looming,” says Baekhyun. “You’re cute from this angle.” Then he adds, “And sitting down makes it seem like a whole serious thing where we end up breaking up, so let’s not, maybe?”

“I’m not breaking up with you, Baekhyun. I’m—” There’s that embarrassing sentimentality again. He breaks eye contact, saying to Baekhyun’s chin, “I care about you. I’d like us to be… serious.”

When he glances up he sees a frown of confusion tugging at Baekhyun’s face. “Weren’t we already?”

“We’re exclusive,” says Kyungsoo. “It’s different.”

“Different how?”

“It’s—making a commitment. Thinking about a future together, maybe.” Then it clicks. Kyungsoo feels outright itchy with awkwardness. “Which… you were already doing,” he guesses.

“I said I was in love with you,” says Baekhyun, brows shooting up into his fringe. “What did you think that _meant_?”

“Listen,” says Kyungsoo, “I’m not good with—”

“You’re so dense, holy shit.”

“Maybe I _will_ break up with you, actually. And you can just go home and fuck your cake.”

“That’s a lose-lose,” says Baekhyun. “You don’t get cake _or_ someone playing with your ass. What a bummer.”

“All I wanted to say is that if you can keep from fucking up until the summer,” says Kyungsoo, “we can move in together, okay? That’s what I’m putting on the table now. You could live here. If you wanted,” he adds.

The playful grin drops from Baekhyun’s face. “Oh. Y—okay.”

“And to show you I really do wanna make things work, I.” Kyungsoo feels his hands twitch anxiously. “I want to… touch your tentacle… things.”

Silence.

“Scale of one to ten, though, how freaked are you about this?” asks Baekhyun.

“Seven,” Kyungsoo says immediately. “You looked like Slender Man.”

“ _Nice_.”

“Can we just do it? It doesn’t matter if I have misgivings about it now,” says Kyungsoo. “I’ll get used to it.”

“You will?” Baekhyun says, visibly dubious.

“For you,” says Kyungsoo. He reaches out and wraps his fingers around Baekhyun’s wrist. “They’re a part of you now, stupid mistake or no. And I want—” He stops, pressing his lips together.

“You want…?” Baekhyun prompts, searching Kyungsoo’s eyes.

“Embarrassing,” Kyungsoo mumbles, mostly to himself. Then, louder: “I want you to know that I… love all of you.”

Baekhyun positively _beams_. “Even my weird Slender Man tentacles?”

Kyungsoo sighs. “Even those.”

“So cute.” Baekhyun leans back in and gives Kyungsoo a smiling kiss. “Really the cutest.”

“Am not,” says Kyungsoo, but cringes when he realizes how quickly this could devolve into a cutesy _No, you are_ argument.

He has to slowly lead Baekhyun to the living room, because the latter refuses to detach from him, just lets himself be walked backward around the apartment as he laughingly presses kiss after kiss to Kyungsoo’s mouth. Kyungsoo, grinning absurdly, tells Baekhyun to stop being difficult—or tries to, but finds himself cut off halfway, and doesn’t bother trying again.

“Shirt?” Kyungsoo prompts, pulling one side of it out of Baekhyun’s jeans.

“You gonna take it off for me?” asks Baekhyun. A menace as always.

Something stops Kyungsoo from scoffing. Instead, he pulls the other side of Baekhyun’s shirt free, pauses, and reaches up to start unbuttoning it. And Baekhyun isn’t laughing now, but there’s still a trace of a smirk on his face.

“You know,” says Kyungsoo, “I studied conjuration for a while back in college.” He stops and looks down, runs his thumb over the edge of a button, hand spread over Baekhyun’s ribs through the fabric.

“Oh yeah?” Baekhyun says with a tone of polite interest. “Didn’t go through with it, though, huh?”

“Too many regulations on it,” he says. “Too creatively limiting. But.” He drags his hand down slowly, undoes another button. “I remembered something interesting about summoning rituals.”

“Hm?”

“Conjuration is easy to mess up. There are a lot of complicating factors.” He keeps going, undoing another button. “Incantations that sound like other spells. Names that are hard to pronounce. Runes.” He gets to the last button. Baekhyun’s shirt falls open. “But banishment is easy, unless you try to make a deal.” He meets Baekhyun’s eye and sees his look of surprise. “Unless you were trying to make a deal the whole time,” he adds.

“Um,” says Baekhyun.

“What did you ask for, Baekhyun?” Kyungsoo narrows his eyes. “It wasn’t the tentacles, was it?”

“No, no,” Baekhyun says quickly. “Those were just… a side effect, kinda.”

“Of?”

“Of… the thing I asked for.” Baekhyun clears his throat. His mouth curls into an anxious smile as he takes hold of Kyungsoo’s hands and pulls them away from his clothes. “It doesn’t matter, I promise. But yeah, hey, you caught me, good job.” A laugh, also anxious. “Let’s just… move on and do your tentacle immersion therapy, alright?”

Kyungsoo sighs. “Baekhyun.”

“I’ll tell you if it ends up mattering, but it probably won’t,” Baekhyun says, running his hands up to Kyungsoo’s elbows and tugging him forward slightly. He looks like he’s going to say more, but only bumps their foreheads gently together, in a silent and strange display of affection.

Now the shirt comes off, though Kyungsoo doesn’t let it get thrown to the floor this time; he busies himself by folding it carefully while Baekhyun concentrates.

“Is there any way to do only one of them at a time?” Kyungsoo asks. He realizes suddenly that he’s taken a couple of steps back, without even thinking about it.

“Nope. All or nothing kinda deal.”

“Ah.”

Baekhyun opens one eye and peers at Kyungsoo. “Change your mind?”

“No,” says Kyungsoo. “Just curious.”

Baekhyun looks skeptical, but doesn’t press the matter.

Seconds later, the mass of shadowy tentacles appears, ominous and disconcerting. After another moment they seem to solidify, fully opaque and a dark bluish-grey, each nearly a meter long. Less frightening, but still not terribly inviting. Kyungsoo takes a deep breath in, steeling himself. He starts to raise one of his hands, the other clutching Baekhyun’s shirt to his chest, then hesitates.

“What do they feel like?” he asks.

“Fleshy?” says Baekhyun. “Oh, and they’re not like octopus tentacles. No suction things.”

“And the…” Kyungsoo searches for the right word. “Texture? How will it feel when I touch one?”

“Like touching skin, probably. Maybe a little wet? They’re like long, clammy hands. But less bad than that makes them sound,” Baekhyun adds.

“ _Clammy_?” Kyungsoo echoes. “Do your interdimensional tentacles sweat?”

“No! They’re just. Naturally kinda moist.” Now Baekhyun looks hesitant, too. “Should I wipe them off or something? I mean—they dry off on their own when they’ve been corporeal for a little bit.”

 _What the fuck_. “That’s fine,” says Kyungsoo, trying not to grimace. He holds out a hand. “Let me feel.”

One of Baekhyun’s tentacles extends slowly. Kyungsoo’s heart thuds in anticipation. He almost wants to close his eyes until it’s over with. But then the thing is inches away, and he can’t keep from watching as it—

Kyungsoo calls out in surprise, jerking his hand back. Baekhyun jumps, eyes as wide as Kyungsoo’s feel. The tentacles all recoil.

“You didn’t tell me they’d be cold,” Kyungsoo says accusatorily, cradling his hand against his chest like he’s been burned.

“Wh—they materialized from another plane of existence!” says Baekhyun. “Of course they’re cold!”

“Do they warm up after a while?” At Baekhyun’s nod, Kyungsoo relaxes. “Alright. Maybe we should wait, then. Sorry,” he adds belatedly.

“It’s fine, it shouldn’t take long anyway,” says Baekhyun. “Maybe a few minutes. So.”

“So,” says Kyungsoo.

“Um.” Baekhyun scratches his jaw. Approximately all of his limbs are tense and awkward. “We could… have cake?”

Kyungsoo nods quickly. “Cake. Sure. Let’s do that.”

 

 

 

“It’s really made me realize how important fingerprints are for grip,” Baekhyun says when his fork clatters to his plate once again. “There go my dreams of learning to write with these, I guess.”

Kyungsoo hums around a mouthful of cake. It’s as fluffy and sweet as Baekhyun said it would be. He swallows and licks his lips. “Maybe it’ll get easier once you’ve had practice.”

“Eh, maybe.” Baekhyun grabs the fork with his hand this time. “Kinda puts a damper on having tentacles, though, when you can’t even pick things up with them.”

“Slippery tentacles,” Kyungsoo muses, eyeing one thoughtfully. “I guess that’s…” He stops, frowning. “Never mind. I don’t know where that sentence was going.” Yes he does. He just doesn’t like it, and doesn’t really know where it came from.

Baekhyun kicks his feet against the bottom of the counter they’re sitting at, seeming oblivious to Kyungsoo’s displeasure. “Wonder if I could be Slender Man for Halloween now,” he says.

“He’d sue you,” says Kyungsoo. “I wouldn’t risk it.”

“You’re probably right. He’s been pretty touchy ever since those games came out.” Baekhyun sighs. “Starting to think having tentacles might not be as fun as I thought it would.”

“Well.” Once again, Kyungsoo finds himself having to censor what he was going to say, partly for his own sake. He says instead, “Making pizza is still an option.”

Baekhyun just sulks, poking at his cake half-heartedly. Even his tentacles, mirroring his mood, have become limp and sad. And this is such a stupid thing to feel sympathetic to someone for, but Kyungsoo does, against all odds, feel a little bad for Baekhyun. He’s just an adorable idiot with magical, frictionless tentacles. An idiot Kyungsoo’s come to realize he’s in love with.

“There’s always cuddling,” Kyungsoo offers, “even though I’m a little worried you might strangle me in my sleep by accident.”

“Would not.” Baekhyun looks principally offended by the very idea. “Have you ever accidentally strangled someone with _your_ limbs?”

“Fair point,” says Kyungsoo.

“I just have more arms to love you with now,” Baekhyun coos.

“Maybe,” says Kyungsoo, still skeptical. Then, before he can chicken out: “Here, let me touch one now.”

If the request takes Baekhyun by surprise at all, it doesn’t show. One of his tentacles, no longer drooping miserably, snakes its way up onto the countertop and waits—though not for long, as Kyungsoo moves to take hold of it at once, without time to second-guess the action.

Not cold this time. On the cool side of room temperature, maybe. Not wet, either—dry and soft and smooth. It reminds Kyungsoo of something, though he can’t quite put his finger on it.

“Huh,” he says, running the tips of his fingers over it.

“Ah!” The tentacle spasms as Baekhyun lets out a giggle, pulling back quickly. “What are you doing, that tickles!”

Kyungsoo’s mouth falls open in wonderment, then curves automatically into a smile. “They’re ticklish? Huh.” He reaches out. “Alright, I’ll be careful this time.”

He imagines this time that it’s just a normal appendage and touches it accordingly, giving a light squeeze before moving his hand further down the length. They aren’t terribly narrow, the tentacles, but their girth never exceeds what he can wrap his fingers around. Seeing the fleshy tentacle in his grasp, though, he realizes what it feels like. A hot flush rises to his cheeks as he withdraws his hand.

“Baekhyun,” he mumbles.

“What? Too weird?”

Kyungsoo shakes his head. He opens his mouth to say what’s on his mind, but god, he can’t. He just _can’t_.

Baekhyun looks so curious, though, fixing him with big, baffled eyes. “Soo?”

He has to say it. Fuck.

“Your tentacles,” Kyungsoo says slowly, “feel exactly like a dick.”

“I.” Baekhyun gapes. It takes him a beat to recover. “Yeah. Yeah, actually, they do. You’re right. They’re big bendy dicks. That’s. Yeah.”

“Okay,” says Kyungsoo. “Glad we’re on the same page.”

Another beat of silence.

“I touch your actual dick on a regular basis,” says Kyungsoo. “I guess it’s not that strange.”

“Right! And these are different,” says Baekhyun. “They don’t do… dick things.”

“Right,” says Kyungsoo.

“So can we—is that way too fucking weird, or can cuddling still be a thing?”

“It’s fine,” says Kyungsoo. “We’re adults. We just have to be mature about it.”

“Right!” Baekhyun chirps, looking relieved once again. After a second he cocks his head, peering at a spot on Kyungsoo’s face. “Oh, hey, you got frosting right here.”

He doesn’t gesture to his own face, or even reach out to swipe with a finger, or be a romantic, sappy nuisance and kiss it off. No—Baekhyun extends his tentacle and brushes the tip of it just above Kyungsoo’s upper lip.

There are a few fractions of a second where Kyungsoo, rigid with shock, tries to work out what he’s feeling. He assumes at first that it’s disgust, the cold burn of it settling in his stomach and throat. But his skin is buzzing, his insides aflutter, lips tingling. And he thinks maybe the thoughts he assumed were just annoying, intrusive ones earlier—the ones he blamed on Baekhyun’s annoying texts about tentacle sex from the other day—weren’t intrusive at all.

“Oh,” he says dumbly.

“Shit, sorry, wasn’t thinking about it.” Baekhyun droops guiltily. “That was probably kinda sudden.”

“It’s fine,” says Kyungsoo, still numb with mortification over how turned on he’s just become. “I think—” What? What does he think? He isn’t sure. “Anyway, if we’re done here, could we… get to the other part of my present?”

“Hm?” Baekhyun looks confusedly at the cake for a moment, brow furrowing, before comprehension seems to dawn. He brightens quickly. “Yeah! Do you wanna clean up or should—”

“Just leave it,” Kyungsoo cuts in. “We can take care of it later.”

“But—”

“ _Baekhyun_.” Kyungsoo almost bites his tongue to keep himself from saying this, but: “Do you want to eat me out or not?”

And that’s all it takes. Baekhyun doesn’t voice a single complaint as Kyungsoo drags him (by the hand, of course) off to the bedroom, doesn’t question it when Kyungsoo pushes the door closed and starts stripping without any preamble. Just plops down at the end of the bed and watches.

As Kyungsoo’s stumbling his way out of his pants, though, Baekhyun pipes up with, “Will the tentacles make you uncomfortable? I can make them go away.”

“No,” Kyungsoo replies, maybe too quickly. To save face, he adds, “It’ll help me get used to them faster.”

Baekhyun seems to accept this. Then, as though realizing he’s done nothing helpful whatsoever, he turns and crawls up the bed to the nightstand, opening the drawer to rummage through it.

“Y’know, with all the rimming we do,” he says conversationally, “you’d think at least one of us would get dental dams.”

Kyungsoo, now down to his boxers, steps over to the end of the bed. “Condoms are cheaper,” he says. “And multipurpose.” He gets one knee up on the mattress but doesn’t climb on, just eyes the tentacles as they twitch and sway.

“Yeah, true.” Lube in hand, Baekhyun tosses a condom onto the bed and closes the drawer.

“Wait,” says Kyungsoo. “Grab another.”

“For fuck’s sake,” says Baekhyun, shooting him an exasperated look over his shoulder. “Do you really think I can’t cut them right by now? It’s been _months_.”

“The second one’s for fucking,” Kyungsoo clarifies.

Baekhyun’s mouth forms a silent _oh_. He flashes an apologetic smile before turning to open the drawer back up.

Kyungsoo, meanwhile, just watches the tentacles, transfixed. Their movement reminds him of a cat’s tail. They wave lazily, dark and slow, occasionally flicking or spasming. He wonders how much sensation Baekhyun really has in them, how many nerve endings there are under the velvety skin. Wonders how acutely they can feel things like heat.

Wonders if Baekhyun has tried fucking himself with them yet.

Wonders how it would feel for either of them if he fucked Kyungsoo instead.

 _God_ , he hates himself.

There’s a pair of scissors nearby that Baekhyun uses to take the condom apart. Like some kind of bedroom arts and crafts. While he’s doing that, Kyungsoo keeps staring at the tentacles, trying not to think about them sexually and failing. He’s embarrassed to realize he’s gotten hard imagining Baekhyun tentacle-fucking him. As an excuse—an alibi—he starts touching himself through his underwear, gripping his cock and jerking it slowly. Better to look impatient than inexplicably aroused; they haven’t touched each other much at all, and it would be next to impossible for him to get that hard just from kissing.

Baekhyun, having finished crafting the makeshift dental dam, presses the soles of his feet down on the bed to lift up his hips, taking his jeans and underwear off both at the same time. Once he gets them to his knees, Kyungsoo says, “Here, I’ll get it,” tugging them down Baekhyun’s legs. He takes off his boxers almost as an afterthought, then climbs onto the mattress. His hand settles on Baekhyun’s calf.

They have a system. Not really an official one, but just something they silently agreed on: If Baekhyun goes down on Kyungsoo, Kyungsoo returns the favor. Typically by sucking him off, because it’s easiest. Baekhyun is a low-maintenance lover, a man of simple needs. Likes fucking and getting fucked, putting his mouth on people and having them put their mouths on him. Doesn’t seem to care who’s getting off with what body part; just wants everyone to come, then have a nice cuddle in the afterglow.

So when Baekhyun says, “You should sit on my face,” Kyungsoo immediately starts thinking about the logistics of trying to take Baekhyun’s cock in his mouth at the same time. It just seems more efficient.

(His secondary thought is about Baekhyun spreading him open with his tentacles, holding him in place while Baekhyun’s tongue pushes inside of him. He’s choosing not to focus on that part.)

Except Baekhyun doesn’t let him do that. Once Kyungsoo’s in position, poised to lower himself over Baekhyun’s face, he tries to bend forward, flatten himself if he can, but Baekhyun has a firm hold on his thighs. No way for him to get his balance like this.

It doesn’t matter. The moment he feels Baekhyun’s tongue through the thin, thin layer of latex, Kyungsoo becomes incapable of caring about most things. He pushes down just a bit and hears Baekhyun groan.

He rides Baekhyun’s mouth, delighting in the careful attention of his lips and tongue, the press of his nails into Kyungsoo’s thighs. When Kyungsoo takes hold of his own cock again, though, he finds his focus straying toward the minimal points of contact between his legs and Baekhyun’s tentacles. He can see one touching his knee, feel another grazing his foot.

He closes his eyes, imagines a lube-slicked tentacle teasing his rim in place of Baekhyun’s tongue. The thought makes him shudder pleasantly. He thinks back to the one that touched his lip and imagines it pushing into his mouth instead. He wonders just briefly if Baekhyun could fuck him with his cock and a tentacle at the same time, and the thought brings him so close to coming that he has to still his hand, moaning quietly.

“Wait,” he says, panting. “Waitwaitwait. Stop.”

Baekhyun’s mouth stops, his grip loosening. Kyungsoo lifts up and hears him say huskily, “What?”

“Wanna fuck you,” says Kyungsoo. He can hear the desperate hoarseness in his own voice. “Please.”

It’s not what he wants. Is, in fact, barely far enough away from what he wants to even be acceptable. He just wants to stop thinking about Baekhyun’s tentacles, how smooth they are, how thick.

He lets Baekhyun stay on his back, tentacles forming the outline of wings on either side of him. Kyungsoo ignores them and presses his lips to Baekhyun’s throat, his mouth. They kiss before Kyungsoo pushes in, and after, and while he thrusts shallowly into him, slowly building up a rhythm. Baekhyun’s hands roam, squeezing and scratching. He moans and whimpers, swears, lets out a litany of fervent yeses. His legs wrap around Kyungsoo’s torso in an attempt to drive him in deeper, heels bracketing Kyungsoo’s spine.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kyungsoo sees a tentacle twitch and goes immediately still, gritting out a curse. He presses his mouth to the curve of Baekhyun’s neck, squeezes his eyes shut.

“Soo?” Baekhyun says gently. One of his hands skims over Kyungsoo’s back. “What’s up?”

Kyungsoo isn’t sure how to answer that. He lifts his head and looks to the side to see one tentacle just inches from his face. Has to clench his hand into a fist to keep from reaching out for it. It was almost easy to ignore them before, but with one right there, right in front of him, it’s become all he can think about.

“Fuck,” he breathes.

“Kyungsoo?” Baekhyun’s voice is a little louder now, and tinged with concern. He unwinds his legs from around Kyungsoo’s waist.

“Baekhyun.” Whatever other words Kyungsoo could have said are lost. He stares blankly at the tentacle for another moment, then finally brings his hand up to touch it.

Baekhyun lets out a wordless noise of surprise as Kyungsoo’s fingers wrap around the tentacle, but doesn’t make a sound as he strokes it. It’s warm now, the same as the rest of Baekhyun’s body. Warm and soft and solid.

“Touch me,” he hears himself rasp. “I need—”

“Touch you how?”

Kyungsoo just squeezes the tentacle in his hand, saying, “Please.”

It happens slowly. One of the other tentacles makes contact with Kyungsoo’s shoulder, then another with his arm, then his lower back. The one in his hand stays where it is. He peers down at the very end of it, which twitches as he continues stroking softly. Then he turns his head back and presses his lips just below Baekhyun’s jaw.

“Is this okay?” Kyungsoo murmurs as he starts fucking Baekhyun again, slowly. His whole body is full of a kind of nervous heat, in part because of all the appendages moving lazily over his skin.

“Yeah,” says Baekhyun. “Yeah. Thought you—”

“Wait,” says Kyungsoo. “Before you—there’s something I have to say.”

“Yeah? Say it.”

Kyungsoo hesitates for just a second, then moves to whisper it in Baekhyun’s ear, this burning desire he has that he needs to voice now before he loses his nerve.

Almost instantaneously, Baekhyun comes.

 

 

 

“But we really don’t have to,” Baekhyun says again. “Really. Seriously. If you change your—”

“Shut up,” says Kyungsoo. “I was the one who brought it up. Stop being annoying.” He pauses. “Unless you’re the one having second thoughts.”

“I’m not,” Baekhyun says quickly. “I just—you _hated_ them before, you know?”

“It was surprising,” says Kyungsoo. “I was surprised. But now I’ve had time to get used to the idea, and this is what I’ve decided.”

They’re back in the kitchen, mostly naked as they clean up the small mess from earlier. Baekhyun, his tentacles banished for the time being, is drying silverware while dressed only in his underwear and unbuttoned shirt. It’s not a bad look at all. Kyungsoo can’t complain.

“Okay, before we do it, though, I gotta be upfront about something.” Baekhyun purses his lips, then sighs, setting down the plate he was drying. “It’s about the spell.”

Kyungsoo folds his arms over his chest. “Okay.”

“I didn’t wanna say before, in case it made you feel… weird or pressured or anything. Uncomfortable. I thought it should be something you came up with on your own. ’Cause the thing is, I, um—” He looks away, chuckling nervously. “I maybe, uh, got the tentacles for fucking? Technically?”

“What,” Kyungsoo says flatly.

“The thing I asked for was just. Something to spice up our sex life. Which was already great!” Baekhyun rushes to add. “I wasn’t bored or anything! But I figured I could keep things from _getting_ boring, you know? Just as insurance.”

“So you asked for sex tentacles.”

“Not _explicitly_. But I guess that’s what you get when the minor deity whose name you invoke is a tentacle monster.” Baekhyun shrugs. “Should’ve figured. Oh well.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t know how to respond to this incredibly stupid thing Baekhyun’s just told him, so he doesn’t.

“So yeah, didn’t wanna pressure you into weird tentacle sex. But now you said you wanna do it, so I thought I should let you know.”

Kyungsoo clucks his tongue. “It should’ve tipped me off when I realized your tentacles were dicks,” he says.

“They really aren’t, though,” Baekhyun insists. “Trust me, I’ve been putting these up my own ass practically every day. They don’t work like dicks at all. They’re just kinda… dick-adjacent.”

The look Kyungsoo gives Baekhyun tries to convey wordlessly that that’s a useless, irrelevant distinction. Baekhyun’s cringe tells him the message was received.

“Alright, so. Tentacle sex is off the table now, I guess,” says Baekhyun.

“Not at all,” says Kyungsoo.

“No?”

“You did something unimaginably stupid, Baekhyun, but that doesn’t really change anything.”

“Wow,” says Baekhyun, “you’re hornier than I thought.”

Kyungsoo sighs.

 

 

 

Baekhyun has Opinions ready about the position they should try this from, until Kyungsoo pulls the birthday card, because technically this was supposed to be part of his present. Technically. So ultimately, he should get to decide how he gets fucked.

“Alright,” Baekhyun says grudgingly. He has one of the tentacles in hand and keeps tapping his fingers absently against it as he waits for them to warm up. “How do you wanna do it?”

Kyungsoo mulls it over. He asks first, “Were you serious about being able to hold me up with them?”

“Oh.” Baekhyun’s eyes go wide. “Oh, fuck, please don’t ask me to tentacle-fuck you standing up. I really can’t handle that. Psychologically. I can’t.”

Kyungsoo huffs out a laugh. “Okay, scratch that then,” he says. “What about… oh.” He remembers his vague fantasy from before. “You could—hold me open. Pin me down.”

Licking his lips, Baekhyun says, “I could.” He drums his fingers against the tentacle again, more decisively. “Yeah. Alright. Show me how you want it.”

“Are they ready?” asks Kyungsoo.

Instead of answering, Baekhyun just reaches a tentacle out and touches it to Kyungsoo’s arm. Room temperature again. Kyungsoo nods, satisfied.

He lies face down on the bed, tells Baekhyun what he wants, and waits. First he feels Baekhyun’s hands pressing down on his shoulders, then tentacles winding around his thighs. His heart is pounding in his throat.

“Ready?” asks Baekhyun. At Kyungsoo’s quiet confirmation, he murmurs, “Just say if you wanna stop.”

Kyungsoo feels his legs being spread further apart. He’s breathing harder in anticipation than he’d care to admit. The moment a lube-coated tentacle brushes against his taint, he gasps.

No movement after that. Kyungsoo has to let out a breathy _please_ for Baekhyun to push the tentacle up to tease his rim, then another for him to slide it in slowly.

There’s still a part of Kyungsoo that’s more than slightly mortified by how intense the heat of his arousal is as Baekhyun’s tentacle fills him completely. He wishes his first instinct wasn’t to try to push his hips back and fuck himself on it. Wishes the realization of how fucking long it is didn’t make him groan helplessly. But here he is, dizzyingly turned on, panting as the appendage pulls out and pushes back in again.

“Good?” Baekhyun asks above him, voice tight with what must be restraint.

“Fuck me,” is Kyungsoo’s only reply.

With a breathy laugh, Baekhyun does. Complies when Kyungsoo tells him to go faster. Moves his hands down to hold Kyungsoo in place as he arches his back. Later, Kyungsoo decides, he’ll have to do something nice for Baekhyun. Something _really_ nice.

“Fuck,” says Baekhyun, “you’d look so good with all of these stuffed inside you.”

Something in Kyungsoo breaks when he hears that, some part of him that had barely been keeping together until now. It takes a few tries for him to manage coherence, but eventually he gasps, “More. Another.”

The weight is lifted from his back as Baekhyun stops to coat the end of the other free tentacle with lube. His hands are still slick when they return to Kyungsoo’s shoulders.

The first tentacle, which had paused for a brief moment, goes back to fucking him. When it’s joined by a second, Kyungsoo whimpers, at once mortified by the sound. He buries his face in the sheets, biting them as the tentacles fuck into him in tandem.

He’s so close. He takes his mouth off the sheets to say, “Don’t stop till I tell you.”

A reply comes in the form of Baekhyun reaching up to pet Kyungsoo’s hair, because he understands. Or he doesn’t, but loves him anyway, and will happily do this for him.

Several long seconds of this, and Kyungsoo comes hard and sobbing. Another pathetic noise escapes him as one of the tentacles milks his prostate. They fuck him through his orgasm, until he starts to go boneless, then keep going even through that. The overstimulation is sharp and abrasive, strange, like he’s suddenly too full, but he doesn’t dislike the feeling. Grits his teeth against it, but somehow wants it to continue. When the discomfort becomes too much, he chokes out, “Stop, stop.”

It stops. Baekhyun lets go of him—tentacles unwinding, weight vanishing—before lying down and hugging him from the side. His chin rests on Kyungsoo’s shoulder. A hand brushes through Kyungsoo’s hair again. The small kiss Baekhyun presses to his ear is one of the most startlingly intimate things he thinks he’s ever experienced.

“C’mon,” Baekhyun murmurs. “Don’t wanna lie there in your own come.”

“Should I be lying in yours instead?” Kyungsoo asks brainlessly.

Baekhyun barks out a laugh that turns into a fond-sounding chuckle. “Only if you wanna be.”

Kyungsoo hums. “We’ll see.” He smiles into the sheets. “And maybe we can switch, have you come on my face for once.”

A snort.

As it turns out, Baekhyun was right all along, as Kyungsoo discovers before drifting off to sleep. Cuddling with tentacles really is nice. Being held like this makes him feel so well cared for, so thoroughly loved.

When he wakes up, though, the tentacles have vanished, and it’s just Baekhyun, holding onto him with everything he has. And that’s enough.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks/sorry


End file.
